I was skeptical when Tom Ross was named President of the vaunted UNC System. His CV had the standard hard-core left-wing credits to impress the hard-core left-wing academaniacs but was woefully lacking in “big boy” management acumen. My fears have proven valid. I am prepared to formally declare Tom Ross is A Nincompoop.
Using a phrase from BobLee….. Tom Ross is proving to be “the Dickie Baddour of UNC System Presidents”. Being the Dickie Baddour of anything is to be avoided.
Running a multi billion dollar enterprise encompassing sixteen rather complicated regional branches does not call for the same skill set as being “bag man” for the Left-wing money-laundering operation – Z Smith Reynolds Foundation. Or being chief fundraiser / president of quaint little Davidson College in quaint little Davidson NC.
It should have been no surprise when following his Flamboyant Farewell Fiasco; UNC’s Benny Hill of Athletics, “Call me Dickie” was asked by TOM ROSS, to sorta kinda be the Benny Hill of UNC System Athletics. As much crap & chaos as Dickie managed to overlook at UNC-CH, think what he could do with sixteen programs. The mind boggles.
NOTE: Preview of upcoming HBO Special on UNC Mess …. LINK Uh Oh!
Luckily for the UNC System and the tax-payers of North Carolina, Ross’ shrewd HR experiment with “Call me Dickie” was short-lived before any significant chaos could be generated and conveniently overlooked. At least none has percolated to the surface….. yet.
Tom then turned his minimal executive expertise (cough) to bluffing his way thru the mismanagement of the UNC Board of Governors – The General Assembly-appointed 32 overseers of the UNC System. Did we mention that The UNC System is a multi-billion dollar operation. Multi Billion with a multi “b”.
We will, in a future commentary, explain much more about The UNC BOG and how it was set-up to be run…. assuming the executive manager had the minimal wherewithal to do so. Without that last phrase it becomes little more than a monthly “what’s for lunch bunch”. A glorified social club where “all in favor say Aye” then break for UNC Kool-Aid and small group discussions of coastal gated communities’ real estate prices.
Send out a 400 page agenda, 72 hours before a monthly meeting and bet no one has more than 20 minute to bother reading it. Safe bet.
Most of the 32 appointees did not expect to be serving on such a prestigious board with no stated purpose other than to weigh each month’s agenda like a sophomore term paper. “All in favor say Aye” if it is more than 400 pages and/or weighs more than six pounds. Thats what they find themselves mired in.
Have you heard Tom Ross’ latest whizbang suggestion just last week? Lower the academic expectations of freshmen student-athletes.
“Lets lower academic expectations” has been the clarion call of left-wing academia for several decades. Many would say all the way back to the implementation of the CRA in the early 70s. It’s a key component of Reparational Academics. Tom Ross is nothing if not a lock-step ideologue from The Far Left.
“We” can assuage our guilt over slavery by giving out high school diplomas to children who can’t read the diploma…. or much else.
Makes your hair hurt just thinking about it, don’t it.
Tom is NOT proposing the somewhat sound proposal of “freshman ineligibility” which does make sense to many. That will never happen in a million years, but it IS a sound idea. Tom is just saying “lets lower the expectations”. He did not suggest lets forgive and forget poor ol’ Uncle Julius Nyang’oro but that might be next.
Hey Tom howsabout this: Lets give prospective freshmen athletes an additional 200 points on their SAT score if they can dunk….. or make four out of five free throws. Makes as much sense, or more, than Tom’s idea.
If “lets simply lower our expectations” sounds bizarre to you, you really have not been paying much attention to public education in America the past 20-30 years, have you? It’s been all the rage. Social promotions…. nobody flunks…. and lets protect their self-esteem. Being able to freakin READ is not as important as “feeling good about yourself”.
I just can’t picture Kindly Ol’ Bill Friday – bless his heart – proposing “let’s just lower our expectations”.
I didn’t know Bill Friday….. but Tom Ross is no Bill Friday.
Tom Ross is a Nincompoop.
